


on the windup world of the nervous tick

by ratherembarrassing



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, pre-supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 11:22:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6077511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratherembarrassing/pseuds/ratherembarrassing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>cat grant, mid-'bizarro'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	on the windup world of the nervous tick

“She’s available.”

She doesn’t know why she says it. In fact, she knows that Kara has all the boy trouble in the world right now, with the Three’s Company stage show playing out just outside the glass walls of Cat’s office on a near-daily basis.

Maybe that’s why she says it.

And besides, if Adam wants to take Kara out, then nonsense like that shouldn’t stop her from saying yes. Cat wasn’t lying, wasn’t stretching the truth even the tiniest bit, when she had said she was Adam’s biggest fan. He’s smart and kind and his Twitter feed is both amusing and sufficiently peppered with social issue awareness.

Kara could do much worse.

So could Adam, for that matter. Cat has liked exactly one of Adam’s previous girlfriends, until she discovered the girl was a journalism major who had applied for internships at The Daily Planet and not The Tribune. Kara had never applied for a job _anywhere_ besides CatCo.

In the end she’s not sure who she thinks she’s doing a favor here, but they should both thank her.

…

“Of course I’ll arrange dinner reservations,” she tells Adam, and as she ends the call, Cat wonders if all of their interactions are going to be a three party affair from now on.

…

Lying in bed later that night, she fills her Todoist inbox with all the crap rattling around in her head, knowing Kara will have organized it by the time Cat gets to the office in the morning.

She’s almost asleep with her phone in her hand when she adds one more item. _Reservation for 2 at Osteria - Tuesday_ , she types, and then erases the 2 and replaces it with ‘Adam’.

Kara will know what it’s for; she can decide for herself.

…  
  


It occurs to Cat that her son and her assistant going on a date could be very bad news for all involved, but most importantly for Cat herself.

(Cat lies— to everyone except Carter.

A lot.

And she lies to herself, too, but that’s a self-motivation thing. When she needs it, she’s her own harshest critic, and sometimes that involves lying and sometimes that involves brutal honesty.

Adam’s stories about Cat aren’t going to be great, but at least there aren’t that many. But Kara’s stories about Cat?)

…

The chirpy barista at Noonan’s sputters right in Cat’s face when she steps up to the counter, finally blurting out a strangled, “Is Kara dead?”

“Yes.” Cat’s eyebrow raises above the edge of her sunglasses.

“Oh my—”

“She’s not dead.” This is why Cat prefers not to deal with people. They don’t understand her sense of humor.

“But she hasn’t come in yet, and—”

That is interesting.

If she had arrived at work to find Kara without her latte, Cat knows exactly how she would have behaved, even as she wondered what had led to Kara forgetting maybe the most important aspect of her entire job. Which she is certainly wondering now, but this is also a chance to get one up on Kara _and_ do something nice all at once.

“What does Ke—ara normally order?”

Honestly, if this thing with Kara and Adam works out, she’s probably going to have to stop that. In the list of things about this situation that are annoying her, that possibility is currently number one.

…

She gets cinnamon _on her pants_ , but Kara gives her a headline, so Cat calls it even.

…

(Kara’s headline makes Cat squint, which she hates, but she’s starting to doubt her doubt, and she hates that even more.)

…

The sound of seventeen televisions all reporting the news is the most calming thing on Earth to Cat.

She doesn’t imagine herself floating in its stream or anything so ridiculous, but she does appreciate its constant presence in her ear, keeping her finger on the pulse even if she isn’t actually… fingering it. Ugh.

And it does help her keep track of Supergirl, her ears somehow pricking just a little at her every mention, which is how she turns her chair around in time to see footage of Supergirl on three different screens, standing on the roof of a falling cable car, as another Supergirl darts around the sky.

So. There are two of them, just as Kara had hypothesized.

Isn’t that interesting.

She’s just finished talking to her 10pm news producer when Adam calls her, and she goes to dinner with him, not at Osteria, where Kara hadn’t made the reservation after all.

Adam doesn’t ask about Kara, and Cat doesn’t have to tell him it’s possible Kara’s out flying around National City chasing an evil doppleganger.

…

If she was concerned about her son dating her assistant, the possibility that he might also be dating Supergirl is, quite honestly, even less thrilling.

But if they _must_ , then they should at least do it properly.

…

(Cat lies to everyone, but she—

Kara _lied_.

It was a spectacularly elaborate lie, and Cat is almost impressed. But Kara looked Cat in the eye and lied, over and over again, and Cat can’t help but take that personally.)  
  
…

(Lies notwithstanding, when Adam shows up at her office without Kara, the sick sludge of fear the floods her system is very real, and when Kara shows up, unharmed but upset, she’s so relieved her mouth takes over while Cat tries to calm herself down.)

…

She expects them both to be gone by the time she makes her way up to the roof and back—she wasn’t actually going to roam the halls where her staff might see her—but when she returns Kara is still there, staring at Cat’s desk like it might hold some sort of answers.

And that’s just too bad, because Cat is done with that.

Through the glass, Cat watches Kara nudge her glasses up her nose, only for them to slide back down the tilted slope of her downturned face, and then slip out the balcony door.

_Yes, run away_ , she thinks, heading for the elevator. _That way nobody gets hurt_.


End file.
